Mailing List

11.30.2015

Oooohhh… Star of Butin is ALL.ABOUT.BEADS! (With a few knit stitches in between!)... even the cast on uses beads! I had to find a way to have those beads not twist while casting on, and discovered that the German Twisted Cast On was the perfect solution!

Of course I know that not many of you use this technique, so I shot you a video!

11.26.2015

My Ornament, Jewelry and Accessory kits are just the thing to make this holiday season sparkle! They are fast, and fun, and fly off the needles, so you do have time to make handmade gifts for your people! They are also fabulous gifts for knitters as well... if you have a knitting relative, friend, teacher, helper, or loved one you can wrap a kit up for them without even knitting it!!!!!!

PLUS, I just released a new ornament pattern called Star of Butin, AND if you place an order, you'll get a code to download Star of Butin for free! The Stars kit will make one of these if you don't have supplies at home.

So here are the details... go to my Etsy shop, choose some kits and use the coupon HUGETHANKS15 at checkout to get 25% off your order. (This sale is only for items in stock and will end on 12/1 at 12:00 PM EST.) Your sales receipt will contain a link and download code to redeem your free Star of Butin pattern.

Also, I should let you know that Craftsy is having a huge sale as well and all classes are $19.99 or less! This includes all 5 of my knitting classes with them!

11.20.2015

TGIF Y'all! What a week since the last giveaway.... all has felt quite unbalanced as of late, and as usual I am coping by knitting ALOT. I've finished a new mitten pattern, a shawl, knit alot of swatches AND I've got some fun stuff on the needles!

Remember those socks I told my honey were in his future... I'm almost done with the toe (on the first one). I still don't think I like knitting socks!

I'm working on another Adornament design as I am teaching them in a few weeks and I know a few of my students have already knit Stello, Stellita and Astellar. This way they'll have something new to try!

I got 2 skeins of Nona from Spirit Trail Fiberworks last weekend at KRR, and I have cast on the last sweater in the Novus Collection. I'm almost done with the sleeve which means I need to do some math before I can cast on for the front and back!

An obvious solution was also to order yarn to make Max a sweater. I haven't knit one for him in a long time. I know he wants a heavily cabled number, and that is still in his future, but for now I am knitting him Rift in Green Mountain Spinnery's Mewesic. It will be great "background" knitting on the cruise as the body and sleeves are knit in the round with simple shaping. I can handle that while chatting away! I don't have a deadline for this... it's fine if it takes a year, but in the end I will love knitting it and he'll end up with a new sweater (which he totes deserves!) I'm pretty sure this will be done before the stupid socks...

Oh, and did I tell you I'm trying something new and participating in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long in Ravelry this year? I've got 15 patterns on sale for 25% off until November 27,
2015 at 11:59 pm (23:59) US-EST... just use the coupon code giftalong2015
at checkout. There are many different threads to enter your finished
gift-knitting in to win prizes... you can enter with any of my designs
or those of participating designers, and they don't have to be ones that you
purchased on sale!

SO GO FORTH MY DEAR NELKINITES AND SPREAD THE WORD… this would be a
great opportunity for you to get some gift knitting done and share my
designs with people who don’t know them :)!

Finally, I wanted to update you on Knitting for Munich! So far we have shipped 502 hats to Munich from Canada and the US... there are even more waiting to be boxed up and sent out (I wait until I have a very full box for each shipment). The last date to send donations is Nov 30th. After that Andrea will let us know if they need more. I want to make sure the hats all get to where they are needed first. Thankyou so very very very much!

Time for a giveaway...
Karen from Seven Sisters Arts was at KRR... it was lovely to meet her! Karen used to be one half of String Theory Fiber Arts (the dyer I worked with on Skywalker) and she and I had many interactions/emails over the year but had never met in real life. She likes boots as much as I do, so clearly she is A-OK!

I kept drooling in Karen's both on her yarn, especially her gradient kits, I couldn't quite bring myself to get one as I didn't have a plan for it.... (and I'm a girl who likes a plan). BUT Karen gave me one to give to you! What do you think of that? I chose this insanely stunning gold/earthy combo in Meridian called Seaweed ... if you don't want it, I'm happy to keep it! Can you imagine a Magmatic Boom in it? Or a Clarus?

So, what's on your needles? Has the gift knitting started in earnest? Leave a comment below by 12pm (EST) on Nov 24th. I will randomly choose a winner and announce them in next week's Friday post!

11.18.2015

I'm just back from a fabulous weekend away... for the first time ever I went to a knitting retreat AS A KNITTER! It was amazing! If you have never gone to a retreat you must... the experience of camaraderie, familiarity, learning, and laughing with people who share your passion is indescribably PERFECT! Since I wasn't working I really let my hair down... don't worry, I didn't dance on a bar, but I did wear my pajamas and I got a lot of knitting done!

Sunday afternoon at Knitter's Review Retreat in Canandaigua!

The weekend has me so unbelievable excited for the cruise and the afterparty and classes at A Good Yarn, I'm going to get to meet many knitters from my Ravelry group for the first time. I'm packing extra tissues, I'm pretty sure there are going to be tears (from laughing!)!!!!

It also has me completely jazzed for 3 events in the first quarter of the year. I'm "trying" to be good and only book one thing a month so I can get some design work done.... we'll see how that goes! Hopefully one of these will work with your schedule and we'll get to knit together!

Vogue Events are amazingly well organized with phenomenal teachers and a marketplace that is AMAZEBALLS! I am teaching some of my favorite classes here, Lace with Beads, Beading 101, Adornaments and more.... I hope I have time to shop!

A smaller retreat, at the Corning Museum of glass, besides workshops with myself, Patty Lyons and Melanie Berg (who is coming from Germany!) there will be opportunities to blow glass! There is a Friday evening event at the Museum with a private tour and cocktails.... I KNOW this is going to be a unique retreat with the opportunity to really connect with your fellow knitters! I do hope you will join us!

Note: if you are worried about travel, the Elmira airport is super close by, and has many flights coming through it daily... this is the airport I use for all my work trips and I totally love it (as much as one can "love" an airport)!

11.13.2015

Y'all remember when I knit my living room a poof a few years ago?
Well, it went from looking all perky like this....

to this.... (my honey liken it to a watermelon that gets left out in the garden after a few hard freezes)

So, I decided I would arm knit it a new cover and see if I could breathe some life back into it!And it totally worked! WOOT!

I spent last Rhinebeck with Anne of Flax and Twine, and watched her arm knit the whole time we hung out... I knew I had to try it, and when her book, Knitting without Needles, released this fall I quickly made sure to get a copy. (As an aside, I think Anne drank less than I did that weekend as her arms were too full of yarn to drink her Martini!)

Perhaps the hardest part was choosing yarn. I really really really wanted one of these Loopy Mango skeins, but my budget said NO!, so I found Brown Sheep Burly Spun at my LYS and got myself 4 skeins... I soon discovered that I arm knit just like I normally knit (loose) and ended up having to hold the yarn with 8 strands together, which meant I needed to go back and buy 2 more skeins. I also decided to cover the "old" poof with a piece of muslin so the green didn't show through, and I added a little extra stuffing while I was at it to firm it up even more! Anne also has kits in her shop which makes things easy if you want to make one too!

Arm knitting is a blast, have you tried it? Anne has a tutorial on her blog to get you started... but if you are intrigued, or you know someone who might enjoy checking it out... her book is a great holiday gift!

Time for a giveaway...

Miss Anne has offered up a kit to make this Arm Knit Pom Pom Hat from her book AND an exclusive video that shows you every step of its making for this week's giveaway! How sweet is that? I'm sorry if you thought this post was going to be me giving away a poof... but I'm keeping this one, it is way too heavy to ship!!

Have you ever knit with something besides your knitting needles? Do tell! Just leave a comment below by 12pm (EST) on Nov 17th.

I will randomly choose a winner and announce them in next week's Friday giveaway post!

11.06.2015

Earlier this year I shared Justine's first design Citgo on the blog... and guess what? She's designed another cowl, this time with a hat to match. I love seeing when my Craftsy students take the skills they have learned and apply them so perfectly!

Justine showed me a photo of the Cable Charm Cap earlier this fall and I begged her to test it.... I was working on a project with Craftsy that involved cables and needed to learn more about them in a hurry. Between working on Justine's pattern, watching Craftsy classes from Fiona and Melissa, and reading a few books my crash course in cables was complete!

What is great fun about the Cable Charm patterns is that they use eight different cables, which means by the end of the project you've gotten to play with a variety of cable styles, perfect for me while I was learning!
I knit my Cap in Shelter (a woolen spun Targhee-Columbia blend), I've had this one skein of yarn in stash for years.... Justine knit hers with Sweet Fiber Merino Twist (a superwash merino yarn). One thing I wanted to see was how cables behave in non-superwash vs superwash yarns. Justine's cap has drape, but my cables seem to POP a bit more... the result is striking, and I can't decide which version I like best!

Time for a giveaway...
As you can see this whole project was about learning about cables.... and I'm thinking perhaps you would like to do some learning too! So guess what this week's giveaway is?

11.03.2015

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted a reading/listening/watching list... I love doing this as it helps keep me "accountable" and if y'all are willing to share with me, it gives me ideas for future literary pursuits!

Disclaimer: Some of these are literary works with merit, others are purely for entertainment. I'm totally ok with a little "trash" once and a while... don't judge me : )!

On my Shelf:

The Paradise of Glass by Pera Durst-Benning - see the above statement, I read the other two in this historical fiction series, strong female characters and handcraftsgot me hooked.

The Martian - by Andy Weir - 'cause I heard it's great (though maybe I should listen to this instead?) I heard the movie is wonderful, but I always choose the book first when I can!

Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Bandani - for when I am ready for a sad book again (see below) It keeps popping up, so it is on my list!

Just Finished:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews- my girl and I both read this this summer, super sad, and yet I laughed out loud a lot? That is confusing....

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - I'm not sure I can suggest this book, I spent the whole read with a giant lump in my throat, it just made me sad, and frustrated at clueless parents, and then melancholy again.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan - Don't judge me, the other two books I read above were SUPER depressing, and I needed a freakin' break!

Listening:

Fall of Giants by Ken Follet - a historical fiction history lesson with a fair amount of "spicyness" thrown in to keep things entertaining.... 30+ hours, which means alot of knitting time! There are two more in the series and then Pillars of the Earth after that! That's 107 hours of listening????? Clearly I'm glad I found them!